COME PICK ME UP

In March of 1999, Superchunk traveled to Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago to record the tracks that would become Come Pick Me Up. The addition of producer Jim O’Rourke allowed Superchunk to advance their sound with more experimentation, including horn and string accompaniments. Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, and Bob Weston provided the horn section (saxophone, trombone, and trumpet, respectively) while Fred Longberg-Holm and Suzanne Roberts contributed on cello and violin. “It was exciting to work in the big room downstairs at Electrical. For part of our visit we also slept there, in the dark except for lights on all the gear blinking. It snowed a ton the day we got there, and I didn’t go outside for the first five or six days we were there,” Mac recalls. “I read an interview where O’Rourke said we tried to make a two-month record in two weeks or something. I’m sure he’s right—we never wanted to spend the time or money making records the ‘proper’ way, but I like how this record came out, and it has some of my favorite songs of ours on it.”